Late Night Reflections
by uniqueinkblots
Summary: In the aftermath of the Stone of Dreams adventure, Alex reflects upon all that occurred. It isn't long before she wakes up Justin to share some of her thoughts and doubts. Oneshot based on: Wizards of Waverly Place Movie.


**Disclaimer: **I of course do not own Wizards of Waverly Place. :)

* * *

><p>Alex sighed. She couldn't sleep. Not after all that had transpired. After spending an entire evening on the beach, and eating dinner under the glittering stars, they had returned to their rooms around midnight.<p>

Jerry and Theresa had hugged their children good night after noticing their kids in family affection mode. If Alex was hugging Justin and Max without getting pushed off, the pair _knew_ they could get away with embracing their children.

They weren't sure why the three were suddenly inseparable, but they didn't really question it. Why ponder a glorious thing? After all, it was probably due to their good parenting. They slipped into their room with smiles on their faces.

Justin was next to go down. After insisting on using the bathroom first on the excuse that it was beyond past his self-imposed bedtime, he showered and changed. (Since both Alex and Max resolved that his stupid bath would take too long, he had been forced to settle for a shower.)

Justin had barely mumbled a good night before his head hit the warm and inviting pillow.

Max was next. He read comic books and drank messy slushies for a pretty long time. It was around two in the morning when Alex could no longer see the yellow light from under his covers or hear the weird slurping noises from his side of the room.

She sighed again before turning to the nightstand to check the time. Three in the morning. She huffed in frustration. What was she _doing? _She was wasting precious time thinking instead of _sleeping? _She was losing it.

But she couldn't help it. A steady flow of deep thoughts invaded her head and rushed through her mind. She had never before been so pensive. Alex groaned softly. She had been so irresponsible. Making her parents forget that they ever knew each other? Threatening her and her brothers' very existence? Ugh. That was a little much, even for her.

_I came so close to losing it all. If it hadn't been for Justin…_

Justin. How close had she come to losing her older brother? How close had she come to losing one of the most important people in her life?

_So close._

Watching the dark whirlwind spin towards him and lift him up away from her for what she was convinced would be forever? Undoubtedly the scariest moment of her life. Alex lay there remembering her frantic words. She had admitted things to him she never intended for him to know. She had said those words in a moment of panic. Pure desperation. She had hoped that revealing her innermost thoughts about how much he meant to her would somehow keep him there.

She had needed him to be with her. She had needed him to fix the mess. After all, he always fixed it. How could he just disappear like that? She wrinkled her nose. Still though. Confessing the things she did had been an ultimate moment of weakness. And in the end, her words had been in vain. Justin had not been able to reverse the spell before being whisked away. The Stone of Dreams had ultimately fixed Alex's fatal blunder. But the Stone of Dreams didn't take away the fact that she remembered everything.

Her parents were mortals. Even though her Dad had been present for the Wizard Competition, she knew he had no recollection of it ever happening. After all – hadn't he been completely confused when she had flung her arms around him? Totally clueless. Alex remembered though. So did Justin and Max.

Back to Justin. Since he remembered everything, why hadn't he commented on her confession? Alex thought back to the time when she had begged for her parents to do something about Justin being invisible. He had teased her about her tears for days before finally letting the subject drop. He had a whole new goldmine of quotes to torture her with. So why hadn't he?

Looking back, she realized he hadn't really had a chance. They had spent the entire evening as a family, ecstatic to just be together after their narrow escape. Then, they had returned to the hotel completely exhausted. He had crashed pretty quickly, and without saying a word about went down in the field.

Alex couldn't sleep. Not at all. She felt like talking to someone. It wasn't often she wanted to talk like this. She rolled over to her other side and leaned on her elbow to look at her brothers. On the far side of the room, Max was asleep in the corner bed. In the twin bed next to him, lay Justin. He too was fast asleep. She reached over to shake him awake before pausing just over his shoulder. He was sleeping so soundly. Justin had led their adventure in the rainforest. He had essentially saved them all. Would she have made it as far as she did without him by her side?

_No. Without him, I didn't even stand a chance._

The dork was probably tired. The best way to thank him was probably to let him sleep. And to not prank him for a week. Maybe two? She hadn't quite worked it out yet.

Well, there was always Max. She didn't really know what he had been up to, other than the fact that he had been trying to keep their parents from meeting new people. Talking to him could be nice too. She walked to his side of the room and paused just before his bed, all ready to rouse him awake. But wait a second. Max barely made sense in the daytime. Was she really expecting him to say something intelligent at three in the morning?

And just like that, she was left with Justin again. She made her way back to her own bed and sat cross-legged, facing him. She was debating with herself.

No. She would be responsible. If she had learnt anything at all from the Stone of Dreams mess, it was to be more responsible. And caring of others. She would not wake him up, she would not wake him up, she would not –

"Justin, wake up."

It was a lost cause. Alex didn't listen to anyone. Not even herself. She had to talk to Justin, and she had to talk now. She shook her brother's shoulder, trying to rouse him. "Justin," she whispered. "Wake up, I wanna talk to you."

He blinked slowly, trying to orient himself. "Alex?" he asked. Justin was surprised. What did she want? His eyes widened in alarm as he imagined the worst-case scenarios. "Did you wish that you didn't have brothers or something? Am I dead? Am I - "

Alex rolled her eyes. Unbelievable. She wanted to talk about their near miss and here he thought that she was dumb enough to make another wish? She glared at him. "Why? In order to speak to you in the middle of the night, I have to have made a crazy destructive life-altering wish?"

Justin simply stared at her, confused. It was too late at night to verbally spar. He didn't have the energy. So he opted for a simple response. Quirking his eyebrow, he smiled and said: "Isn't that usually the case?"

Grr. Was this really the person she had spent the last hour thinking about and reveling in relief and joy that he was still around and by her side, looking out for her?

"But seriously, Alex. What do you need? Something wrong?"

She met his worried and bewildered gaze with a smile. Yup, this was the person.

"Relax, Justin. Like I said, I honestly just wanted to talk," she admitted. She bit her lip and kept staring at him. They were both sitting on their respective beds, facing each other. She took his silence as her signal to continue. "You know all those things I said before?"

She didn't elaborate. He would know what she meant.

Upon seeing him nod, Alex took a deep breath and continued. "Why didn't you say anything about it? Are you saving it or something? To bug me with? Blackmail, maybe? What will it be – your collection of Captain Jim Bob Sherwood posters back in order for you to keep my words to yourself?"

He stared at her for a long time before finally blinking. And then grinning. "Oh my gosh, Alex!" he laughed. "You thought I was going to _blackmail _you? You woke me up in the middle of the night to make a _deal _with me?" He continued to snicker until Alex finally punched his arm.

"OWW – _Alex,_" he hissed and rubbed his arm. He shot her his fiercest glare, which granted, wasn't all that threatening. He sighed upon realizing how serious she was. "Of course, I wasn't going to blackmail you. I was just as scared as you were, you know. Even though at the time, I didn't technically _know _you, I still felt connected. I didn't want to leave you because somehow, I knew you were important to me."

He loved Alex to death, but he couldn't believe she was choosing this moment to have this conversation. It couldn't wait till the morning? He examined his arm and yawned before continuing.

"The next thing I knew, I was on the boardwalk standing next to Max. And I knew that somehow, you had figured things out. Without me. I was really proud, Alex. In fact all those things you said? Probably the nicest things I'll ever hear from you," He stopped and met her surprised face with a grin. "Also – blackmailing really isn't my style. I'm not like devious you," he teased.

Alex grinned. She knew this talk would help her. Somehow, she felt closure. She leaned over to hug Justin. Surprised though he was, he returned the embrace. It was only the fourth or fifth hug after a long evening of family appreciation. And to be honest, he liked when they were on the same side.

She climbed back under her covers and turned to face him. "Though for the record, it wasn't me who figured things out. Mom came on the scene with the Stone of Dreams."

Justin nodded in understanding and closed his eyes. The silence lasted for all of thirty seconds before he spoke.

"So can I still have those posters?"

She didn't answer and he knew she was probably already asleep. Who knows how long she sat there thinking about it all before she decided to wake him up and share the load?

In that instant, he realized everything was back to normal. Max was in his own world, Mom and Dad were oblivious, he didn't have any of his prized belongings, and Alex was calling all the shots. Justin sighed before rolling over and resettling under the covers. At least he wouldn't be pranked for a while. At least for two weeks, knowing Alex.

He fell asleep around four in the morning, with a bright and peaceful smile on his face.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **Finished. I always kind of wondered how the rest of the trip would go, so I settled for a quick little one-shot. Hope you liked it!

Please tell me what you think in a review! :)


End file.
